The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-10-27
PRINTED PAGES REPRODUCED
By the "Wsshout" Gelatine Process.
Utilizing the suns Rays.

Utilizing the suns Rays.
The English edition Of an encyclopaedia
is being reproduced entire. IN exact fac
smile. without n line of type being set.
The process by which II j. being done like
many inventions Of the kind is extremely
simple. and vet requires such deicacy in
handling that II has taken years OF careful
experimenting 10 bring II To rs present
state Of perfection. The 2O.WO pages ard
4 the thousands Of illustrations making up
the encyclopedia are being reproduced by
/ Just this mixture-plain. common eela-
4 tine. such a. You n-e al home in your
cooking. Nothing more. except few
chemicals. ordinary brushes that con be
/ bought anywhere for quarter, and
nothing less.
The idea Of the 'washout" gelatine pro
] cess Is not new one. II certainly dates
| back dozen years. But II was in 1884
that the patent under which the encyclO-
padia is being reproduced was first OBJ
| tanned But then IL was not practical In
! two OF three years several different own
ers Of the patent found ID an elephant on
! their hands. and because they could not
work il practcally-in other words, TO
make money out Of it'-failed. Finally
a year ago il began 10 assume more
practical shape. and the company then
working il took the contract from firm
Of New York publishers to reproduce the
encvclopRdia. Like many new things the
process was cranky" aud refused to
work practically and steadily enough 70
produce the result aimed at The thing
dragged along until finally last April the
company made nm assignment. and It's
plant and patent were bought by a former
member OF The Boston Globes staii. Tie
saw what simple changes were needed
10 make the process success, and now
plates for the new popular reprint OF the
eucvcl0pRdia are being turned out com
plete and ready for the press at the rate OF
800 a week, while il seems that in the
near future there will be practically no
limit 10 the number of books that may be
reproduced without setting line Of type.
II j. the simplest thing in the world
that is. to explain ON paper Gelatne,
when prepared by this secret process, has
the property of becoming almost as hard
as metal when exposed 10 the sunlight
and remaining soft and soluble when kept
in the dark When i'm liquid state IL is
run ont into thin sheets about type
high
There is no international copyright \
COPY Of the English edition OF the ency-
clopudia is cui mp and carried to the pho
tOgraphers room i'm this engraving estaO-
lishment The pages are put in front of
large cameras and photographed. The
result is a black and white negative
densely black and absolutely translucent
making fac smile of the type pages
In the negative the black part Of the page
that is. the type matters translucent,
and the white part of the page-that Is,
the paper, densely black
These negatives are next placed IN
frames over the sheets of gelatne and eX-
posed To the sunlight Where the sun
shines through the negative the gelatine
becomes almost as hard a, metal. where
the black portion Of the negative
protects the gelatine b. remains soft
and soluble The gelatine sheet
thus printed is taken into
dark room and washed with brush and
ordinary water The soluble portion dis
appears. leaving the hardened part-that
i~ the typc--tanding mp in bold relief
il is practically exactly like page Of
type sci up and ready for the press The
gclatine plate is then elcctrOtyped and
from these electroiype~ the book printed,
The illustrations are made in the same
way. 4 dot or a line so fine that 10 can
be- seen only with the aid Of microscope
comes out in the negative. and the
minute ray Of the sun that shines through
that inhnile-mal aperture hardens IFS in
fnitesmal molccule of gelatine.
English aud other uncopyrighted works
are now being reproduced hoy American
publishers cheaper than they can be SET IN
iype. and without the trouble and delay
Of looking over proof sheets, etc. As
leather goes into one end of a machine
and comes out finished shoe at the other,
so English books 90 into this machine one
day. and the next day plates come out
complete from which American editions
may be printed. Cuts are clipped from
foreign books and periodicals.. go through
thi, process. and in q few days adorn our
American books. New York Letter